New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The New York City Opera needs $ 7 million in fundraising by Monday or it could be closing its curtains for good .

On top of that money , the opera company wants to raise an additional $ 13 million by the end of 2013 towards future seasons , according to a press release .

`` If we do n't raise the -LRB- $ 7 million -RRB- by the end of Monday the board is going to begin the process of bankruptcy , '' spokesperson Risa Heller told CNN on Friday .

The company started a campaign to raise $ 1 million of that $ 7 million through an online fundraising site -- Kickstarter.com -- that will end September 30 . As of Friday the online campaign had raised only $ 202,223 donated from more than a thousand supporters .

The organization raised $ 1.5 million outside of Kickstarter campaign , according to Heller .

`` The odds have been against us for a long time , '' George Steel , general manager & artistic director for the company , said in an online video , `` but in the face of that difficulty we have made tremendous progress . ''

The company , dubbed `` The People 's Opera '' by former NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia , was founded on the principle that every New Yorker should be able to afford to go to the opera , Steel said .

Steel explains that in order for the company to break even , it would need to sell every ticket for $ 600 , but instead the starting ticket price is actually $ 25 to make it more affordable .

The New York City Opera received critical praise in the past for its world premieres of work including Robert Ward 's `` The Crucible '' and Anthony Davis ' `` The Life and Times of Malcolm X. ''

The company opened its current season on September 17 with the opera `` Anna Nicole , '' and should it fail to raise the necessary funds by Monday , that could be the Company 's last production .

`` We need the help of the people we were founded to serve to put on our season this year , '' Steel said , speaking to New York residents and opera fans everywhere . `` We need you to come together and carry it forward into the future . I hope we can count on you . ''

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the New York City Opera , which opened in 1943 , making it the second opera house in NYC . The Metropolitan Opera was founded over 60 years earlier , in 1880 .

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`` The People 's Opera '' was founded on the idea that every New Yorker should have access

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For the company to break even , all tickets would have to cost $ 600 each

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Instead , the starting price is $ 25

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`` We need the help of the people we were founded to serve , '' says an opera official